Qualcomm Atheros AR956x Wireless Network Adapter 2.4GHz WiFi interface with low TX rate

RouterOS Wireless Networking
1

Good morning
I'm writing to you because I having a small problem with one device. I have an ASUS laptop with a Qualcomm Atheros AR956x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI\VEN_168C&DEV_0036&SUBSYS_213A1A3B). When I connect to the MikroTik hAP ax S (model = E62iUGS-2axD5axT), I see a high RX rate (72Mbps) and a low TX rate (6Mbps) in the registration table. When the TX rate reaches 1Mbps, I lose connection to my router. The ping works, but averages 1500ms. However, there's no link with WinBox, and obviously no network or internet. Every time I try to reconnect with another device, I have to deregister the laptop. Obviously, it's not a signal issue, because even if I move closer with the laptop, the signal improves, but not the TX rate, which remains stuck at 1Mbps. The Asus laptop is running Windows 11 and has the latest available Wi-Fi driver: Qualcomm Atheros AR956x Wireless Network Adapter
Qualcomm Communications Inc., 12/17/2020, 10.0.3.463. Here is my config:

/interface wifi configuration
add channel.skip-dfs-channels=all country=Italy disabled=no name=cfg3-wifi-guest ssid=***
/interface wifi security
add authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk comment="" disabled=no encryption=ccmp management-protection=required name=
sec3-guest
add authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk disabled=no encryption=ccmp management-protection=required name=sec2-wifi5
add authentication-types=wpa2-psk disabled=no encryption=ccmp management-protection=disabled name=sec1-wifi2.4
/interface wifi
set [ find default-name=wifi1 ] arp-timeout=auto configuration=cfg1-wifi2.4-home configuration.country=Italy .mode=ap datapath=
datapath1-home disabled=no mac-address=*** name="wifi1(2.4)" radio-mac=*** security=sec1-wifi2.4
set [ find default-name=wifi2 ] arp-timeout=auto configuration=cfg2-wifi5-home configuration.mode=ap datapath=datapath1-home disabled=no 
mac-address=*** name="wifi2(5)" radio-mac=*** security=sec2-wifi5
add arp-timeout=auto configuration=cfg3-wifi-guest configuration.mode=ap disabled=no mac-address=*** master-interface=
"wifi1(2.4)" name="wifi3(2.4)-virtual" security=sec3-guest
add arp-timeout=auto configuration=cfg3-wifi-guest configuration.mode=ap disabled=no mac-address=*** master-interface="wifi2(5)" 
name="wifi4(5)-virtual" security=sec3-guest
/interface wifi access-list
***
/interface wifi cap
set enabled=no
/interface wifi capsman
set enabled=no
/interface wifi configuration
add channel.band=2ghz-ax .frequency=2412-2462 .reselect-interval=2h .width=20mhz comment="MDS: config profile for compatibility" country=Italy 
datapath=datapath1-home disabled=no name=cfg1-wifi2.4-home security.ft=no .ft-over-ds=no ssid=*** steering.rrm=no .wnm=no
add channel.band=5ghz-ax .reselect-interval=8h .skip-dfs-channels=all .width=20/40/80mhz country=Italy datapath=datapath1-home disabled=no 
name=cfg2-wifi5-home ssid=
add channel.band=2ghz-ax .frequency=2412-2462 .reselect-interval=2h .width=20mhz comment="MDS: Warning config profile for TX max" country=
Micronesia datapath=datapath1-home disabled=no multicast-enhance=disabled name="cfg4-wifi2.4-home(TX RATE)" security.ft=no .ft-over-ds=no 
ssid=*** steering.rrm=no .wnm=no
add channel.band=2ghz-ax .frequency=2412-2462 .reselect-interval=2h .width=20mhz comment="MDS: config profile for compatibility" country=Italy 
datapath=datapath1-home disabled=no multicast-enhance=disabled name="cfg5-bakucp of cfg1" security.ft=no .ft-over-ds=no ssid=*** 
steering.rrm=no .wnm=no
/interface wifi datapath
add bridge=bridge1-home bridge-cost=10 disabled=no name=datapath1-home
2

They don't work so well with older wpa2 & b/g/n only cards.

They don't work so well with any cards...

3

Indeed. It's best to leave this property unset ... which will then allow to use default setting depending on actually used authentication type: for WPA-2 it's allowed (so if station does it, AP will as well) and for WPA-3 it's required. As already mentioned, WPA-2 stations mostly don't do management protection, so this setting might be the killer option.

Apart from that, in may experience setting encryption=ccmp,ccmp-256 (so ccmp and ccmp-256 allowed) is fine ... but when adding any of gcmp or gcmp-256, many stations would barf.

4

/interface wifi security
add authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk disabled=no encryption=ccmp management-protection=required name=
sec3-guest
add authentication-types=wpa2-psk disabled=no encryption=ccmp,ccmp-256 name=sec2-wifi5
add authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk disabled=no encryption=ccmp,ccmp-256 name=sec1-wifi2.4

I made some changes to the security profile for WiFi 2.4, I disabled the management. Also regarding encryption I also added the ccmp 256 value. I will try this new configuration for a few days and will give you feedback.

/interface/wifi/registration-table> print stats
Flags: A - authorized 
 0 A ;;; PORT-Asus-MDS (wifi2.4)
     interface=wifi1(2.4) ssid="***" mac-address=*** uptime=4m42s last-activity=0ms signal=-69 auth-type=wpa2-psk 
     band=2ghz-g tx-rate=18.0Mbps rx-rate=54.0Mbps packets=6338,6678 bytes=3805829,2254545 tx-bits-per-second=88.2kbps 
     rx-bits-per-second=11.1kbps 
...
Flags: A - authorized 
 0 A ;;; PORT-Asus-MDS (wifi2.4)
     interface=wifi1(2.4) ssid="***" mac-address=*** uptime=10m last-activity=0ms signal=-69 auth-type=wpa2-psk 
     band=2ghz-g tx-rate=1000.0kbps rx-rate=54.0Mbps packets=13960,14975 bytes=8140859,5605194 tx-bits-per-second=109.9kbps 
     rx-bits-per-second=138.1kbps

From initial feedback, I always note that the TX rate is lower (1Mbps) than the RX rate (54Mbps). The guest profile will be fixed for last.

I'd also add that the original 2.4GHz profile didn't mention management. This was because WPA3 didn't exist in the security section. I can also add that the two wireless interfaces have the same SSID name.

I will keep you updated, thanks for your cooperation.

5

UPDATE

Feedback: Unfortunately, the modification didn't yield the expected results. After a while of use, the laptop connection dropped. TX was stuck at 1Mbps while RX was over 50Mbps. The ping from the laptop to the router and vice versa averaged 800ms with an indicative loss of 30%.